123WaxRing, for jewelry wax ring models.

123WaxRing has been discontinued

The 123WaxRing kit and the Sets of additional wax disks are no longer available.
Manufacturing cost for these high-tolerance parts (especially the wax blocks) simply were too high. Sorry about that. The good news is that two resellers are planning to release 123WaxRing-compatible products; inquiries via their websites:

A revolutionary new approach, making it really easy to create jewelry wax models.

So far the creation of jewelry wax models on a CNC milling machine has been more complex than on a 3D wax printer. For milling it was needed to mount the correct fixtures, create a wax-block of the correct size, mount the correct cutters, set the workpiece zero points and so on.

We proudly present the revolutionary new 123WaxRing system (patented) that eliminates most of these steps. Three times you need to fasten one screw, that's all.

1. How does it work

The 123WaxRing system is a combination of the 123WaxRing Wizard in the DeskProto CAM software and the 123WaxRing Fixture for your milling machine.

The 123WaxRingfixture offers two clamping planes, with two positioning pins each. Pre-shaped wax disks are available that exactly fit these pins, they can be clamped onto the fixture using one screw. The ring model is then machined from three sides: side 1 and 2 lying flat on the horizontal clamping surface, side 3 (rotation axis machining) on the vertical clamping surface. This is a very easy process with very accurate results.
The 123WaxRingwizard prepares the toolpaths for this milling process: a sequence of just eleven dialog screens that allows you to select the geometry file, orientate it, choose which wax block to use, choose supports and precision, decide if roughing is needed, calculate the toolpaths and send them to the machine.
Watch the short movie above, which shows you the complete process.

The system accepts jewelry designs from any 3D CAD system, for instance Rhino, Jewelcad, Matrix, 3Design. Toolpaths also can be generated for any CNC milling machine. The fixture has been made to fit the Roland Jewela machine (JWX-10), however with an Adapter many other machines can be used as well (rotation axis needed).
Note: the fixture works well with the Roland MDX-40, however on the new MDX-40A the rotation axis is too far to the left, positioning the fixture partially outside the machine's working area.

Fixture on the Roland JWX-10

The pre-shaped wax disks

2. Advantages of CNC machining a jewelry wax model over 3D printing one

The investment casting of real wax is easier than of the resins used by some 3D printers.

The surface quality of a machined wax model is much higher than of a 3D printed model.

The investment cost for a CNC milling machine is much lower than for a 3D printer (you can afford an in-house system).

The material cost per model are lower than for 3D printers.

No problem when the STL file contains small gaps, orphan surfaces or other inconsistencies.

A CNC milling machine is very robust and reliable: it will work flawlessly even after having been idle a few weeks.

Ring design in Rhino by Atelier de Bruijn: line drawing and computer rendering (shaded image)

Advantages of the 123WaxRing system

Wax models with undercuts can be created, as the model is machined from three sides.

No need to change the cutter: all milling can be done with the same cutter (conical) (competing systems also need a straight cutter to machine the reference holes).

All orientations are done with the same workpiece zero point. So this needs to be set only once !

The system is easy to use: take a wax block, fixture it with just one screw start machining.

The system also is very fast: you may have your model within half an hour !

Minimum loss of wax: no oversized wax blocks are needed for clamping purposes.

Step 1: XYZ milling with circular toolpaths

Advantages of the 123WaxRing wizard over other programs

The wizard is complete: no need to manually select macros which may induce errors.

DeskProto is amazingly fast in toolpath calculations.

The DeskProto toolpaths for side 1 and 2 are real circles (seen in top view).

DeskProto can send the toolpaths directly to the Jewela machine: no need to first save an NC file.

After completing the wizard all DeskProto parameters are available for fine-tuning (if needed).

Step 2: XYZ milling the 2nd side

Advantages of the 123WaxRing fixture over other fixtures

For all orientations the model is clamped on the same fixture, resulting in a very high accuracy. No need to change or adjust the fixture either.

The fixture is very stable: no assembly with tolerance issues, no vibrations during machining. This will result in a superb surface quality.

The positioning of the reference pins is such that the wax block cannot be incorrectly positioned.

Step 3: Rotation axis machining

3. Limitations and their workarounds

While 9 out of 10 ring designs can be created by CNC milling, some rings are too complicated as the cutter cannot reach all details. The workaround is to have that "odd" one out done externally on a 3D wax printer.

The 123WaxRingfixture has been designed to fit the Roland JWX-10 machine (Jewela). Still it can also be used on other machines by applying an adapter. For USA-made machines with a Sherline type rotation axis we have such adapter available.

Pre-shaped waxblocks are needed, which may cause fear for high material cost. These wax blocks are not proprietary though: the drawing is given in the documentation, and you are perfectly free to create your own wax blocks. Then still the advantage is present that you can create a series of disks using a flat cutter, and do not need to change cutter while machining a ring.

The wax block has to be manually turned over between side 1 2: no autoflip. That solution has been chosen as autoflip has some drawbacks: two different fixturing systems are needed, which will cause inaccuracies. For autoflip also a second cutter will be needed to machine the fixturing holes for side 3.

When working with only a conical cutter and thus avoiding a toolchange, the inside of the ring will not be a true cilinder. The excess material can easily be removed by manually filing the wax model.

The maximum size wax model is OK for rings, however insufficient for bracelets and for some brooches. Such models can be created in a different area of the machine, without the need to remove the fixture. For instance for the Roland JWX-10 machine the small orange working area top of the rotation axis. A wizard will be added to do so without changing the workpiece zero point.

The resulting ring: white gold with 32 small diamonds. Courtesy of Atelier de Bruijn in Hulst (NL)

4. The Sherline-to-Roland Adapter

The 123WaxRing fixture has been designed to fit a Roland JWX-10 machine. Many jewelers will however work with a CNC machine from a different make.
A widely used rotation table is the one made by Sherline Products, as this hardware is used by many American machine manufacturers. For this Sherline rotary we can offer a special adapter: the Sherline-to-Roland adapter, see the illustrations below. Left a threaded end with centering collar to be screwed into the Sherline table, right exactly the same countersunk mounting surface as on the Roland rotary axis. So this adapter can be used for any Roland-based fixturing system.
On many other machines the 123WaxRing fixture can be clamped directly in the three-jaw or four-jaw chuck. If needed use the adapter just mentioned to create more distance. Note that an accurate centering and alignment is very important!

The Sherline rotary table

The two parts on the left are adapters

5. Availability and prices

The 123WaxRing system needs to be used with the software DeskProto V 5 Full or DeskProto V 6 Multi-Axis. The 123Wax wizards are standard available in both programs. 123WaxRing is an optional extra to the DeskProto software because most DeskProto users will not need it: it is useful only for jewelers.

The hardware was delivered as a complete set, the 123WaxRing kit:

one fixture

a manual

two conical cutters

16 wax disks

which allows you to start immediately. This kit was priced EUR 295.00 [no longer available ! ]
(end-user price, excl shipment and VAT).
The Adapter for Sherline machines was available for EUR 48.00 [no longer available ! ]
Additional wax disks were available as well, in sets of 16 assorted disks.
Such set was priced EUR 48.00 [no longer available ! ] As the documentation shows the specifications of the disks you are free to create your own disks if you prefer that.

Two resellers are planning to release 123WaxRing-compatible products: see the top of this page.

We do not offer extra cutters: these are available at www.bitsbits.com and buying them via us only would make them more expensive. The cutter in the 123WaxRing kit is a Bits&Bits "profile tool", type 815-PR20.004 (diam 1/8", length 1.5", included angle 20 degr, tip diam 0.004").

6. Resources

For more in-depth information on how the system works you are free to read the123WaxRing user documentation (PDF, 0.6 Mb)
This document shows Features, Setup, Model creation and Specifications.

The documentation mentions a DeskProto project that you can use for calibrating the zero-point. You can download this project as 123Wax-CalibrationFiles.zip (8KB).

The documentation also contains drawings of the wax blocks: you are perfectly free to create your own blocks instead of buying them. You can read more about this in a DP project to create a wax disk.

7. The 123WaxModel wizard

Two-sided milling of a charm, on the same 123WaxRing fixture

The 123Waxring Fixture can also be used for charms, pendants, brooches and other non-ring jewelry. For that aim different wax blocks are needed: with the reference holes at one side of the block instead of in the middle.
Also for these wax models a wizard has been created: the 123WaxModel wizard. Note though that these models are machined from only two sides as that is sufficient.